I totally agree. "there are people who display all kinds of hostile and harmful behaviours in every social class, but without doubt the powerful and wealthy are the supreme experts."
In my experience too, the richest people I've met were also the most greedy, fearful, angst-ridden, entitled, envious, psychopathic and cruel. Meanwhile, neighbours in a Palestinian village whose house had just been demolished by an Israeli bulldozer as penalty for some minor bureaucratic mistake invited us in for coffee, and desert dwellers in northern Chad, squatting in front of their adobe huts with no furniture in it (not even a bed) were the most generous, trusting, welcoming, happy human faces I've seen, despite raw wounds inflicted by threats of military invasion from their Libyan neighbours, not to mention the very real possibility of starvation.
What a great comment Veronika, I also totally agree. My experiences have been very similar.
I have a underbubbling instinctive belief that humans can only manage so much power and wealth before they lose sight of themselves and others. The ego is a dangerous friend. Useful for knowing which mouth to put the food into, not useful if the food becomes too plentiful. I often wonder if there shouldn't be a maximum amount of wealth and power anyone should actually be able to accumulate.
And I'm in good company. There are so many indigenous people's social behaviours that are designed to manage equality, manufacture reverse dominance and maximise consensual decision making, cooperation and autonomy. In our utterly skewed western "democracies" these beautiful behaviours are ridiculed as ridiculous, by as we know, the most ridiculous amongst us.
There was a reason for the Old Testament "Jubilee Year" every 50 years to level things out economically - because, human nature being what it is, two generations was enough to make inequality of wealth a destructive phenomenon.
According to David Graeber in his brilliant book "Dawn of Everything," this kind of levelling out happened seasonally in many ancient cultures. Even roles and power accumulation was changed according to the season, and yeah, I totally get why :)
Yeah, I often think, in addition to 'minimum wages' there should be a 'maximum wage', or 'maximum wealth' above which people should have an incentive to contribute their surplus into the 'common wealth'.
The problem with power and wealth is not the money or the power that can be bought with it (I think) but the imbalance between external power and wealth and internal weakness, sense of lack, and immaturity in general. I've always believed that rights and responsibilities go together. If there has been one principle I've taught my children, it's always been that. To claim more rights, I nudged them along to take more responsibility (echoing the Statue of Responsibility as a counterpart to the Statue of Liberty suggested by Viktor Frankl)
Being given too many rights without adequate responsibilities leads to entitlement and a sense of victimhood no matter how wealthy and privileged people are (as demonstrated by a certain British Prince and his Duchess wife), and power & wealth in combination with this kind of inner weakness & lack leads to insensitivity and cruelty towards others.
Maximum wage - 100% In fact that's kinda what many indigenous cultures, who fully understand the ego's tendencies, actually arrive at with their various social economies.
And yes thrice over that it's the "internal weakness" where the problem lies. IN fact it kinda leans toward your thinking I guess where the internal and the external are almost the same thing? This is what I was getting at with this external world being a reflection of our various emotional scars.
I also love the responsibility idea of course. I think that one of the inevitable weaknesses of complex societies and wealth accumulation is precisely that one is robbed of personal autonomous responsibility. It's a shame that this seems to echo the shallow misunderstanding the "right" makes were so much emphasis is placed on a kind of fake disempowered personal responsibility, but I mean actually being engaged in a consensual and mutual decision making process with real community responsibility which leads to dignity and communality.
As for Princes, well, you can imagine what I think of that ;)
Yep, the logic of the tantrum, all about "internal weakness" and power and "insensitivity and cruelty towards others." You hit the nail on the head as the say :)
We do tend to float around in our own bubbles, little worlds in which one may find it completely normal to get your hair blow-dried at the salon before work and oh the shame if you can't. Times must be tough.
There's been quite a positive energy throughout Australia this past week following the election, which resulted in an unexpected landslide to the left and strong support for independents with a climate change agenda. It's the largest majority government in the nation's history, which is remarkable. The conservatives here had hitched their wagon to Trump and the people didn't buy it. We're far, far from perfect, but it does give me hope to see the widespread rejection of such values.
I think Canada had a similar response, no? The biggest wing back from the conservative ever in that country.The tantruming billionaires don't seem so attractive once they acually get power. Very glad that the Aussies are veering leftish, only hope Rinehart and others in that motley crew accept the situation.
Laughably, no, Rinehart has way too much ego to accept that. She blamed the voters and the media (which is apparently left now) and is urging the defeated party to be even more Trumpian. She was no asset to the conservative campaign and they'll probably try to distance themselves from her now, although politely... they'll still want her money.
She is EXACTLY what I'm talking about here when I say "deranged billionaires throwing tantrums." These people! Ego maniacs with no snese of shame at all. Anyway, doesn't her mate Murdoch own all that "lefty" media? Yeah right, he's practically a commie that guy!!
Wonderful job, Jonathan. I wonder how we can enact these changes you outline so well. How can the good, beneficial forces take on these dark ones? Is there any method, any path to reminding all of us what dignified creatures we used to be? Most of that a function of no single person acquiring any significant amount of anything far above his peers? Possibly the power of Substack could somehow be harnessed...
I once asked a dear friend of mine that same question, "what can we do?" and he said we are doing far too much already. What we need is to do less. Simplify, he said, pay more attention and simplify. There's such a hurricane of bullshit blowing about, he said, what we need is for the wind to subside so we can pay attention to our inner selves for a moment.
I didn't like his answer. I wanted to see whole scale changes across the board. He said that without paying attention to our inner selves we'd never be able to deal with the outer world. Ok I said, so when we've paid attention to our inner selves what can we do then? He said, then when the whole thing goes up in flames you'll feel a lot calmer when it happens :)
I do know some funny bastards.
I'm much better at pointing out the madness than mapping a way out of it. I can predict the next few days but longer than that and I feel like a 11 century monk trying to predict the 20th century. Clueless. Maybe we've seen the best of our human time. Maybe not.
Personally, I like the idea of a general strike. No one does anything at all. A complete stop. But organising anything like that? Yeah.
Maybe not bleak, not for me. As I go down these different concepts of paths of potential “action” I believe we can only affect first ourself and then just a few people in our lives. A writer of some reach and influence could do a bit more, I suppose but the undeniable fact that psychopaths hold such power is a disheartening reality. I look after my family as well as I am able and try to be a decent human being, in general. What more can we do?
I think there's so much purposely generated fakery and lies from bad actors these days that even a genius of wide reach and influence would have trouble forcing their clear voice above it all. Tech giants removing the work of poets the day after they win a Pulitzer Prize is a hard force to fight against.
But anyway, ditto, Wes. There's that which I can influence and that which I can agonize over and it seems that never the twain shall meet. But striving to be decent is a beautiful thing to do.
I agree. Although our imaginations go far our reach is limited. I'm sure that's what Browning had in mind, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?"
I agree with your “fine tuning” how did we ever become a Class system where wealth became the highest rung of the ladder - “at the expense of dignity and integrity”.
You mentioned the doors of hell opening, my imagination sometimes (often times) runs a little wild. Have you ever watched the series Lucifer? I love it. Mixing the devil with a bit of sarcastic comedy. The premise, the devil , the fallen angel, decides to leave hell and become a casino owner in NYC, in handsome human form. Their depiction of Hell is a vast endless dark city of smokey grays and black, of rotted looking buildings and rooms where people live out their own hell , mostly alone in a room, reliving the acts and consequences that got them there in the first place. Over and over again for eternity and if there is more to their non existence , then let’s just call it the forever beyond.
Anyways, now that I have set the menacing , but satisfying scene, I have this imaginary vision where Trump et al, are all sent to the same room , an oval office of sorts, trashy gold everywhere, an enormous mountain of gold coins as the centerpiece, they hell the hell out of each other over and over and over again, in the same room for ♾️♾️♾️♾️♾️
Makes me smile just thinking about it👺😈🤔
I still need to ‘share the fresh air’ over there, so don’t forget to take me out in to the wilds of Sweden every once in awhile, guided by ‘the dog’ of course. Were you able to open the YouTube video? I had never seen Joan Baez singing to that magnificent crowd in 1963. Just reminds me of what the world was like back then , a sign of the times. Oh, I forgot narcissist. I believe he will try to get his face on our paper currency. True story; “Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act" to feature Trump on a new $250 bill to coincide with the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. A Rep. from S.C. is presently writing legislation to propose the Bill. While it is supposedly illegal to do ,and the person has to no longer be among the living, I think that would mean; sure let’s do it for the good of America. He’ll scribble his name with a Sharpie, creating another one of his worthless executive orders. Supporters will ‘buy’ them up , because of course their monetary value will be much greater than the measly $250, until they are out of print, we know it will eventually have zero value . Ok, out to inhale some fresh air!
I can believe that Orangefuckmonkey would want his slobbering face all over the $250 bills. They say that money is the root of all evil, so I can't think of a better place for his face. That those with the most money are joyfully and with no shame destroying the lives of those with the least money shows his face should be on the very cause of the inequality and inhumanity. Besides, the way that man is purposely destroying the US economy it's likely that only the 1% will ever see a $250 bill, so not too much to worry about I guess ;)
What a fabulous rant Jonathan! Ridiculous creatures indeed, like lambs to slaughter...
I absolutely agree with every word you write!
I spend much time trying not to listen to how ridiculous some/many of these creatures are as you know, but I believe, in the case of the most ridiculous of all - I can't even write his name - he has reached almost a god-like status to the dumb and ignorant, like a ghost risen from the dead, the phoenix from the ashes and as such not only revered but worshipped. His word is gospel... never mind, to his worshipers, that he's leaving trails of devastation, never mind his tantrums, his antisemite and utterly juvenile attitudes and behaviour, never mind that he can barely string a sentence together, that he has a criminal record, HE is GOD, point finale.
And what can we do? Stupidity, it seems, is contagious, and it's a disease that's spreading fast with no cure in sight except perhaps anarchy or nihilism on the part of those of us who see through his ugliness and thievery and warmongery but neither one or the other will work without courage and most of us can't fucking afford to be courageous because we aren't millionaires or even comfortably off anymore!
Urgh... I will leave it at that, the birds are singing outside my window, there is mist in the valley and about thirty wild boar have just trotted past my kitchen window to wherever it is they go to sleep at this time of day, these are madnesses I can deal with! ;-)
And a great rant from you to, Susie! I might open a rant booth, I'll just give a starter sentence and then let each ranter get going for a modest fee ;)
Funny how so many names are unsayable/unwritable these days, I just say things like The Milk Snatcher (yep, still!) or That Electric Car Psychopath or That Orange FuckMonkey.
How wonderful to have those wild boar pass by! I haven't seen one for ages. They are about but I've been unlucky. I did see a couple of gorgeous Moose the other day. Those guys are the definition of serenity. Beautiful.
You have had some excellent responses and very interesting conversations. I read your post yesterday. Hope I’m not too late, was on my way over, but then wandered off, lost in your powerful writing ,and my own ponderings. I was going to add a few ‘dittos’, but as usual, you lit the match.
“…like a kaleidoscope of butterflies, alighting within each other, forever affecting and altering…” Love that entire quote . I have always felt the same. Every single human that I have crossed paths with in life, no matter the time frame, the experience-good or bad, affects who we are , who we/ I have become. I’ve never liked the term human condition. If I may be snarky about it, I do not like to be grouped in with other humans, just maybe I am a bit insulted by it. Such a broad term, and who do ‘they’ think they are including me in with ‘those’ people. I am not like ‘them’ at all (ranting 🙃). While DT most certainly is a product of his up bringing, his warped sense of human nature is all on him. Greed, grifter, bigot, antisemite , to name a few traits, he has only one trait he is a master of, the lie. And truthfully, we are here today, because he has given people permission to hate out loud. To be ugly. And ultimately, to give voice and action to who they already were. So it becomes the norm . We can not blame it all on ignorance and stupidity. Unless stupidity has become a disease. The sad part is, witnessing the reality of who his supporters really are . Living in the midst of it, here in the U.S. having a conversation with family members, friends, meeting new people, ( although my husband wears his truth on his hat; DOGS, because people SUCK) becomes a game of strategy, do we really want to know the truth? What lies just beneath a light conversation can be a minefield of revelations we never wanted to know about the other. Hearing someone we love or have known our entire lives, be the marionettes, justifying their warped beliefs in the lies. Watch hatred bloom, where you never knew it existed. For now, I just can’t see around it ,like smog filling the valley floors and rapidly rising to the highest mountains, forming a lenticular cloud over the horizon. I do know, something’s got to give. I won’t take up any more space here, telling you all about what this administration has been getting away with, you already know . It can not continue for the next 3+years (or more🙈🙊🙉). I hope, like the anthem of the civil rights movement, “We Shall Overcome” in a big way, and please, not a war built for distraction to continue greed.
“It's so wonderful to know there are other kind souls out there recognising the madness and feeling the same :)” Yes, share the fresh air, with whomever and wherever we can find it .
Thanks for the “rant” , Jonathan. Told ya you lit the match. Always a pleasure to hang out with you and be ‘ridiculous creatures together’.
You know Lor, always it's such a pleasure to have your thoughts and good heart replying to my writing. I often look forward to it. I'm so honestly grateful that your kaleidoscope of butterflies flutters through us all and this space especially :)
I totally agree with you of course, although I might fine tune my thoughts maybe to be more clear by saying that although that infantile fascist DT is certainly a perverse sociopath, which might well be a result of his specific nature, the thing for me is that our Class system and its tendency to accumulative power means that these dangerous types of characters are rewarded for their outlier natures. I think that "Greed, grifter, bigot, antisemite," is actually a pretty good description of the tendencies of the powered classes in general who are grifting bigots perpetually extracting maximum "valiue" from everything they come in touch with, like a psychopathic King Midas. It's kinda unsurprising that a sociopath would flourish so happily in this environment.
I remember when the hideous man won the first time in 2016, I said to people that my greatest fear was that he would open the doors to hell and allow all the hate to come out like poison gas. And that's exactly what he did. When you say "we are here today, because he has given people permission to hate out loud. To be ugly," I couldn't agree more. I think most "non-psychopath" "normal" people all have the capacity toward the whole spectrum of human feelings. We can be good and we can be evil (massive oversimplification I know but for the sake of this) so it's so important that the shared moral environment leans toward respect and kindness and integrity etc. so that we are leaning internally in that direction. This disgusting US administration and the giant tech companies are actively and purposely pushing in the other direction and as you say, the result is baffling and heart-breaking - everyday folks leaning towards the darkness and having to "Watch hatred bloom, where you never knew it existed." It is just awful.
I guess if we live in a system that extracts any true human value from our lives and creates false market values on everything at the expense of dignity and integrity and regardless of the consequences to each human life, then we find ourselves in a place of evil. I'd wish all this evil would just fuck off basically so I could write about the dog and I ;)
Anyway, I'm going to throw this right back atcha and say "Always a pleasure to hang out with you and be ‘ridiculous creatures together’. :)
Powerful, observant writing, in the first person this time. Really nice to hear your direct voice on it. So many common threads between our latest posts.
I thought that same thing after reading yours, Síodhna. It's so wonderful to know there are other kind souls out there recognising the madness and feeling the same :)
Yet again, blown away by your sharings…..so much resonates. I always forward your blog onto a group of friends and highlight what esp. resonates for me with them.
These are 2 (of several more) which “grabbed” me:
“And then imagine that we knew for certain that those individuals at the top of our invented social hierarchy were emotionally broken and scarred people who had been fucked up by their very own family lives, and that they were now inflicting all this hell onto the rest of us and our paradise planet because they couldn’t help themselves.”
❤️“Maybe we need to recognise that love and kindness to all of our fellow living beings is the only really valuable thing we’ve ever had on this precious planet.”❤️
Humans definitely win the Most Ridiculous Stupidity Ever Award. Is it an inherent design flaw? Something in this noodle in our heads that prioritizes power over relation? I’m not one to believe in intelligent design or some larger order orchestrating it all, but I do wonder sometimes, if it is all part of some larger unfolding, that these swings between darkness and light are exercising some essential cosmic force that couldn’t be shaped and refined without the tension of opposites? I don’t know. Sure seems like a messy, precarious way to get there if that’s the case.
We sure are in a pickle. I'm also not one for any "larger order orchestrating it all." Although in another way I am. It's just that the larger order is Capitalism. I think that we have the potential to be delicious or inedible depending on the way we’re cooked. And Capitalism is cooking some sour and putrid dishes with the most wonderful of ingredients. There are better ways to be which dish up far better people. So there is hope if we just kick these bad chefs out and refurbish the restaurant :)
Thanks so much for reading and commenting Kimberly. I hope your well my friend :)
I kept nodding “Yes, and yes” so many times as I read, Jonathan, I now have a muscle spasm that continues bobbing my head! Better that than a shellacking by the goon squads of God not God donny resulting in constant negation.
I must confess that despite your powerful use of words, many are far above a third grade reading level. Lost on deaf ears and resulting in “Ignorance is bliss.” Were we, the aggrieved, to pull out all the stops to increase vocabulary and comprehension before 2026 elections, would that matter for the outcome? As well as moving forward to subsequent elections, national, state, and local choices, to inspire more active participation by the electorate, Jonathan? Not a loaded question. More a prayer.
It's so hard to say anything valuable of the future I reckon, Gary. My unfortunate curse is to see the present in clear light. The rest is in the hands of those little fantasies we've made up called "the gods" :)
I read today on Substack that the poet Gary (fine name) Snyder once said, “If you speak to the condition of your times with some accuracy and intention, then it may speak to the future, too." Maybe. Maybe not. But I definitely agree with the importance of speaking truthfully of the craziness of our times. I suppose I also think that writers or artists or who ever has an obligation to tell it like it is in the hope for something more.
For me, I think that hideous little fool donny is a symptom of our times rather than a cause. The whole system we live under is a donny making machine. But if we treated each other with more love and kindness then the vile little donnys of this world wouldn't ever get to positions pf power. But as it is today, I share your prayer that more people should involve themselves in doing what brings about love rather than hate.
I totally agree. "there are people who display all kinds of hostile and harmful behaviours in every social class, but without doubt the powerful and wealthy are the supreme experts."
In my experience too, the richest people I've met were also the most greedy, fearful, angst-ridden, entitled, envious, psychopathic and cruel. Meanwhile, neighbours in a Palestinian village whose house had just been demolished by an Israeli bulldozer as penalty for some minor bureaucratic mistake invited us in for coffee, and desert dwellers in northern Chad, squatting in front of their adobe huts with no furniture in it (not even a bed) were the most generous, trusting, welcoming, happy human faces I've seen, despite raw wounds inflicted by threats of military invasion from their Libyan neighbours, not to mention the very real possibility of starvation.
What a great comment Veronika, I also totally agree. My experiences have been very similar.
I have a underbubbling instinctive belief that humans can only manage so much power and wealth before they lose sight of themselves and others. The ego is a dangerous friend. Useful for knowing which mouth to put the food into, not useful if the food becomes too plentiful. I often wonder if there shouldn't be a maximum amount of wealth and power anyone should actually be able to accumulate.
And I'm in good company. There are so many indigenous people's social behaviours that are designed to manage equality, manufacture reverse dominance and maximise consensual decision making, cooperation and autonomy. In our utterly skewed western "democracies" these beautiful behaviours are ridiculed as ridiculous, by as we know, the most ridiculous amongst us.
There was a reason for the Old Testament "Jubilee Year" every 50 years to level things out economically - because, human nature being what it is, two generations was enough to make inequality of wealth a destructive phenomenon.
According to David Graeber in his brilliant book "Dawn of Everything," this kind of levelling out happened seasonally in many ancient cultures. Even roles and power accumulation was changed according to the season, and yeah, I totally get why :)
Yeah, I often think, in addition to 'minimum wages' there should be a 'maximum wage', or 'maximum wealth' above which people should have an incentive to contribute their surplus into the 'common wealth'.
The problem with power and wealth is not the money or the power that can be bought with it (I think) but the imbalance between external power and wealth and internal weakness, sense of lack, and immaturity in general. I've always believed that rights and responsibilities go together. If there has been one principle I've taught my children, it's always been that. To claim more rights, I nudged them along to take more responsibility (echoing the Statue of Responsibility as a counterpart to the Statue of Liberty suggested by Viktor Frankl)
Being given too many rights without adequate responsibilities leads to entitlement and a sense of victimhood no matter how wealthy and privileged people are (as demonstrated by a certain British Prince and his Duchess wife), and power & wealth in combination with this kind of inner weakness & lack leads to insensitivity and cruelty towards others.
Maximum wage - 100% In fact that's kinda what many indigenous cultures, who fully understand the ego's tendencies, actually arrive at with their various social economies.
And yes thrice over that it's the "internal weakness" where the problem lies. IN fact it kinda leans toward your thinking I guess where the internal and the external are almost the same thing? This is what I was getting at with this external world being a reflection of our various emotional scars.
I also love the responsibility idea of course. I think that one of the inevitable weaknesses of complex societies and wealth accumulation is precisely that one is robbed of personal autonomous responsibility. It's a shame that this seems to echo the shallow misunderstanding the "right" makes were so much emphasis is placed on a kind of fake disempowered personal responsibility, but I mean actually being engaged in a consensual and mutual decision making process with real community responsibility which leads to dignity and communality.
As for Princes, well, you can imagine what I think of that ;)
well, taking people's rights away and dumping them with all the 'personal responsibility'... that's a funny kind of logic, isn't it?
Yep, the logic of the tantrum, all about "internal weakness" and power and "insensitivity and cruelty towards others." You hit the nail on the head as the say :)
We do tend to float around in our own bubbles, little worlds in which one may find it completely normal to get your hair blow-dried at the salon before work and oh the shame if you can't. Times must be tough.
There's been quite a positive energy throughout Australia this past week following the election, which resulted in an unexpected landslide to the left and strong support for independents with a climate change agenda. It's the largest majority government in the nation's history, which is remarkable. The conservatives here had hitched their wagon to Trump and the people didn't buy it. We're far, far from perfect, but it does give me hope to see the widespread rejection of such values.
I think Canada had a similar response, no? The biggest wing back from the conservative ever in that country.The tantruming billionaires don't seem so attractive once they acually get power. Very glad that the Aussies are veering leftish, only hope Rinehart and others in that motley crew accept the situation.
Laughably, no, Rinehart has way too much ego to accept that. She blamed the voters and the media (which is apparently left now) and is urging the defeated party to be even more Trumpian. She was no asset to the conservative campaign and they'll probably try to distance themselves from her now, although politely... they'll still want her money.
She is EXACTLY what I'm talking about here when I say "deranged billionaires throwing tantrums." These people! Ego maniacs with no snese of shame at all. Anyway, doesn't her mate Murdoch own all that "lefty" media? Yeah right, he's practically a commie that guy!!
My thoughts precisely 😂
“Well, try this for size.” Indeed, Jonathan, indeed. Oh what a messy, messy terrible beautiful lot we are.
Glad to be voyeuring the human condition alongside you, my friend.
Yep. Can't help but love 'em and hate the bastards all at once ;)
Wonderful job, Jonathan. I wonder how we can enact these changes you outline so well. How can the good, beneficial forces take on these dark ones? Is there any method, any path to reminding all of us what dignified creatures we used to be? Most of that a function of no single person acquiring any significant amount of anything far above his peers? Possibly the power of Substack could somehow be harnessed...
I once asked a dear friend of mine that same question, "what can we do?" and he said we are doing far too much already. What we need is to do less. Simplify, he said, pay more attention and simplify. There's such a hurricane of bullshit blowing about, he said, what we need is for the wind to subside so we can pay attention to our inner selves for a moment.
I didn't like his answer. I wanted to see whole scale changes across the board. He said that without paying attention to our inner selves we'd never be able to deal with the outer world. Ok I said, so when we've paid attention to our inner selves what can we do then? He said, then when the whole thing goes up in flames you'll feel a lot calmer when it happens :)
I do know some funny bastards.
I'm much better at pointing out the madness than mapping a way out of it. I can predict the next few days but longer than that and I feel like a 11 century monk trying to predict the 20th century. Clueless. Maybe we've seen the best of our human time. Maybe not.
Personally, I like the idea of a general strike. No one does anything at all. A complete stop. But organising anything like that? Yeah.
Wow, this got bleak fast.
Maybe not bleak, not for me. As I go down these different concepts of paths of potential “action” I believe we can only affect first ourself and then just a few people in our lives. A writer of some reach and influence could do a bit more, I suppose but the undeniable fact that psychopaths hold such power is a disheartening reality. I look after my family as well as I am able and try to be a decent human being, in general. What more can we do?
I think there's so much purposely generated fakery and lies from bad actors these days that even a genius of wide reach and influence would have trouble forcing their clear voice above it all. Tech giants removing the work of poets the day after they win a Pulitzer Prize is a hard force to fight against.
But anyway, ditto, Wes. There's that which I can influence and that which I can agonize over and it seems that never the twain shall meet. But striving to be decent is a beautiful thing to do.
I agree. Although our imaginations go far our reach is limited. I'm sure that's what Browning had in mind, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?"
Beautiful!
All we need is love, everything else was provided and we failed miserably so far...
We've gotta pop these bubbles!! 😉
Thank you!
And thank you too An K 🙏🏼
I enjoy rants because it's a good way of getting at truths that might otherwise go unarticulated. Nice one.
Thanks Jonathan!
I agree with your “fine tuning” how did we ever become a Class system where wealth became the highest rung of the ladder - “at the expense of dignity and integrity”.
You mentioned the doors of hell opening, my imagination sometimes (often times) runs a little wild. Have you ever watched the series Lucifer? I love it. Mixing the devil with a bit of sarcastic comedy. The premise, the devil , the fallen angel, decides to leave hell and become a casino owner in NYC, in handsome human form. Their depiction of Hell is a vast endless dark city of smokey grays and black, of rotted looking buildings and rooms where people live out their own hell , mostly alone in a room, reliving the acts and consequences that got them there in the first place. Over and over again for eternity and if there is more to their non existence , then let’s just call it the forever beyond.
Anyways, now that I have set the menacing , but satisfying scene, I have this imaginary vision where Trump et al, are all sent to the same room , an oval office of sorts, trashy gold everywhere, an enormous mountain of gold coins as the centerpiece, they hell the hell out of each other over and over and over again, in the same room for ♾️♾️♾️♾️♾️
Makes me smile just thinking about it👺😈🤔
I still need to ‘share the fresh air’ over there, so don’t forget to take me out in to the wilds of Sweden every once in awhile, guided by ‘the dog’ of course. Were you able to open the YouTube video? I had never seen Joan Baez singing to that magnificent crowd in 1963. Just reminds me of what the world was like back then , a sign of the times. Oh, I forgot narcissist. I believe he will try to get his face on our paper currency. True story; “Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act" to feature Trump on a new $250 bill to coincide with the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. A Rep. from S.C. is presently writing legislation to propose the Bill. While it is supposedly illegal to do ,and the person has to no longer be among the living, I think that would mean; sure let’s do it for the good of America. He’ll scribble his name with a Sharpie, creating another one of his worthless executive orders. Supporters will ‘buy’ them up , because of course their monetary value will be much greater than the measly $250, until they are out of print, we know it will eventually have zero value . Ok, out to inhale some fresh air!
I can believe that Orangefuckmonkey would want his slobbering face all over the $250 bills. They say that money is the root of all evil, so I can't think of a better place for his face. That those with the most money are joyfully and with no shame destroying the lives of those with the least money shows his face should be on the very cause of the inequality and inhumanity. Besides, the way that man is purposely destroying the US economy it's likely that only the 1% will ever see a $250 bill, so not too much to worry about I guess ;)
What a fabulous rant Jonathan! Ridiculous creatures indeed, like lambs to slaughter...
I absolutely agree with every word you write!
I spend much time trying not to listen to how ridiculous some/many of these creatures are as you know, but I believe, in the case of the most ridiculous of all - I can't even write his name - he has reached almost a god-like status to the dumb and ignorant, like a ghost risen from the dead, the phoenix from the ashes and as such not only revered but worshipped. His word is gospel... never mind, to his worshipers, that he's leaving trails of devastation, never mind his tantrums, his antisemite and utterly juvenile attitudes and behaviour, never mind that he can barely string a sentence together, that he has a criminal record, HE is GOD, point finale.
And what can we do? Stupidity, it seems, is contagious, and it's a disease that's spreading fast with no cure in sight except perhaps anarchy or nihilism on the part of those of us who see through his ugliness and thievery and warmongery but neither one or the other will work without courage and most of us can't fucking afford to be courageous because we aren't millionaires or even comfortably off anymore!
Urgh... I will leave it at that, the birds are singing outside my window, there is mist in the valley and about thirty wild boar have just trotted past my kitchen window to wherever it is they go to sleep at this time of day, these are madnesses I can deal with! ;-)
And a great rant from you to, Susie! I might open a rant booth, I'll just give a starter sentence and then let each ranter get going for a modest fee ;)
Funny how so many names are unsayable/unwritable these days, I just say things like The Milk Snatcher (yep, still!) or That Electric Car Psychopath or That Orange FuckMonkey.
How wonderful to have those wild boar pass by! I haven't seen one for ages. They are about but I've been unlucky. I did see a couple of gorgeous Moose the other day. Those guys are the definition of serenity. Beautiful.
Truly ridiculous what you have written :)
haha yep, truly ridiculous in every sense :)
Needless to say, but I’ll say it anyway. I loved every bit of it!
Needless to say :)
You have had some excellent responses and very interesting conversations. I read your post yesterday. Hope I’m not too late, was on my way over, but then wandered off, lost in your powerful writing ,and my own ponderings. I was going to add a few ‘dittos’, but as usual, you lit the match.
“…like a kaleidoscope of butterflies, alighting within each other, forever affecting and altering…” Love that entire quote . I have always felt the same. Every single human that I have crossed paths with in life, no matter the time frame, the experience-good or bad, affects who we are , who we/ I have become. I’ve never liked the term human condition. If I may be snarky about it, I do not like to be grouped in with other humans, just maybe I am a bit insulted by it. Such a broad term, and who do ‘they’ think they are including me in with ‘those’ people. I am not like ‘them’ at all (ranting 🙃). While DT most certainly is a product of his up bringing, his warped sense of human nature is all on him. Greed, grifter, bigot, antisemite , to name a few traits, he has only one trait he is a master of, the lie. And truthfully, we are here today, because he has given people permission to hate out loud. To be ugly. And ultimately, to give voice and action to who they already were. So it becomes the norm . We can not blame it all on ignorance and stupidity. Unless stupidity has become a disease. The sad part is, witnessing the reality of who his supporters really are . Living in the midst of it, here in the U.S. having a conversation with family members, friends, meeting new people, ( although my husband wears his truth on his hat; DOGS, because people SUCK) becomes a game of strategy, do we really want to know the truth? What lies just beneath a light conversation can be a minefield of revelations we never wanted to know about the other. Hearing someone we love or have known our entire lives, be the marionettes, justifying their warped beliefs in the lies. Watch hatred bloom, where you never knew it existed. For now, I just can’t see around it ,like smog filling the valley floors and rapidly rising to the highest mountains, forming a lenticular cloud over the horizon. I do know, something’s got to give. I won’t take up any more space here, telling you all about what this administration has been getting away with, you already know . It can not continue for the next 3+years (or more🙈🙊🙉). I hope, like the anthem of the civil rights movement, “We Shall Overcome” in a big way, and please, not a war built for distraction to continue greed.
“It's so wonderful to know there are other kind souls out there recognising the madness and feeling the same :)” Yes, share the fresh air, with whomever and wherever we can find it .
Thanks for the “rant” , Jonathan. Told ya you lit the match. Always a pleasure to hang out with you and be ‘ridiculous creatures together’.
Joan Baez 1963:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuSih-Z30TY
You know Lor, always it's such a pleasure to have your thoughts and good heart replying to my writing. I often look forward to it. I'm so honestly grateful that your kaleidoscope of butterflies flutters through us all and this space especially :)
I totally agree with you of course, although I might fine tune my thoughts maybe to be more clear by saying that although that infantile fascist DT is certainly a perverse sociopath, which might well be a result of his specific nature, the thing for me is that our Class system and its tendency to accumulative power means that these dangerous types of characters are rewarded for their outlier natures. I think that "Greed, grifter, bigot, antisemite," is actually a pretty good description of the tendencies of the powered classes in general who are grifting bigots perpetually extracting maximum "valiue" from everything they come in touch with, like a psychopathic King Midas. It's kinda unsurprising that a sociopath would flourish so happily in this environment.
I remember when the hideous man won the first time in 2016, I said to people that my greatest fear was that he would open the doors to hell and allow all the hate to come out like poison gas. And that's exactly what he did. When you say "we are here today, because he has given people permission to hate out loud. To be ugly," I couldn't agree more. I think most "non-psychopath" "normal" people all have the capacity toward the whole spectrum of human feelings. We can be good and we can be evil (massive oversimplification I know but for the sake of this) so it's so important that the shared moral environment leans toward respect and kindness and integrity etc. so that we are leaning internally in that direction. This disgusting US administration and the giant tech companies are actively and purposely pushing in the other direction and as you say, the result is baffling and heart-breaking - everyday folks leaning towards the darkness and having to "Watch hatred bloom, where you never knew it existed." It is just awful.
I guess if we live in a system that extracts any true human value from our lives and creates false market values on everything at the expense of dignity and integrity and regardless of the consequences to each human life, then we find ourselves in a place of evil. I'd wish all this evil would just fuck off basically so I could write about the dog and I ;)
Anyway, I'm going to throw this right back atcha and say "Always a pleasure to hang out with you and be ‘ridiculous creatures together’. :)
Powerful, observant writing, in the first person this time. Really nice to hear your direct voice on it. So many common threads between our latest posts.
I thought that same thing after reading yours, Síodhna. It's so wonderful to know there are other kind souls out there recognising the madness and feeling the same :)
Yet again, blown away by your sharings…..so much resonates. I always forward your blog onto a group of friends and highlight what esp. resonates for me with them.
These are 2 (of several more) which “grabbed” me:
“And then imagine that we knew for certain that those individuals at the top of our invented social hierarchy were emotionally broken and scarred people who had been fucked up by their very own family lives, and that they were now inflicting all this hell onto the rest of us and our paradise planet because they couldn’t help themselves.”
❤️“Maybe we need to recognise that love and kindness to all of our fellow living beings is the only really valuable thing we’ve ever had on this precious planet.”❤️
Bravo, Jonathan….
Thanks you so much, Michaele, I'm so honoured and grateful that you read so deeply and you actually share too 🙏🏽 Seriously, thank you.
Humans definitely win the Most Ridiculous Stupidity Ever Award. Is it an inherent design flaw? Something in this noodle in our heads that prioritizes power over relation? I’m not one to believe in intelligent design or some larger order orchestrating it all, but I do wonder sometimes, if it is all part of some larger unfolding, that these swings between darkness and light are exercising some essential cosmic force that couldn’t be shaped and refined without the tension of opposites? I don’t know. Sure seems like a messy, precarious way to get there if that’s the case.
We sure are in a pickle. I'm also not one for any "larger order orchestrating it all." Although in another way I am. It's just that the larger order is Capitalism. I think that we have the potential to be delicious or inedible depending on the way we’re cooked. And Capitalism is cooking some sour and putrid dishes with the most wonderful of ingredients. There are better ways to be which dish up far better people. So there is hope if we just kick these bad chefs out and refurbish the restaurant :)
Thanks so much for reading and commenting Kimberly. I hope your well my friend :)
Loving this metaphor Jonathan. 😂😂😂
I kept nodding “Yes, and yes” so many times as I read, Jonathan, I now have a muscle spasm that continues bobbing my head! Better that than a shellacking by the goon squads of God not God donny resulting in constant negation.
I must confess that despite your powerful use of words, many are far above a third grade reading level. Lost on deaf ears and resulting in “Ignorance is bliss.” Were we, the aggrieved, to pull out all the stops to increase vocabulary and comprehension before 2026 elections, would that matter for the outcome? As well as moving forward to subsequent elections, national, state, and local choices, to inspire more active participation by the electorate, Jonathan? Not a loaded question. More a prayer.
It's so hard to say anything valuable of the future I reckon, Gary. My unfortunate curse is to see the present in clear light. The rest is in the hands of those little fantasies we've made up called "the gods" :)
I read today on Substack that the poet Gary (fine name) Snyder once said, “If you speak to the condition of your times with some accuracy and intention, then it may speak to the future, too." Maybe. Maybe not. But I definitely agree with the importance of speaking truthfully of the craziness of our times. I suppose I also think that writers or artists or who ever has an obligation to tell it like it is in the hope for something more.
For me, I think that hideous little fool donny is a symptom of our times rather than a cause. The whole system we live under is a donny making machine. But if we treated each other with more love and kindness then the vile little donnys of this world wouldn't ever get to positions pf power. But as it is today, I share your prayer that more people should involve themselves in doing what brings about love rather than hate.
superb
Thank you, Jan 🙏🏼
Beautiful little nugget of self awareness and love xx
Thanks Nigel, sounds like a good description of the pair of us ;)